Saturday, June 27, 2009

Fridays are always a bit random from seeing patients for follow-up in the clinic to administrative work to visiting children referred to other health facilities to restocking the dispensary drugs to picking up vaccines to sorting out lab issues to expat morning prayer to whatever needs to get done really. I like Fridays; a day that is not as chaotic with patients but can still be a bit hectic trying to juggle the day’s activities.

This morning was a bit frustrating when the plan to leave for the Children’s Hospital at 10:30/11:00 quickly became 11:30 and when we finally got around to leaving the compound another patient walked through the gate; 3 hours late for their appointment. AAAHHHHHH. I had already spent the morning running around trying to get all sorts of things done, trying to speed things along. Well, we couldn’t really not see the child, so it was another 20 minutes later before we were through with that and on our way again.

We made a quick stop to pick up the monthly supply of vaccines and were then on our way to the Children’s hospital. I visited one of my TB patients on the ward. He’s 11 years old and probably weighs as much as a 7 year old. He’s been admitted for a few weeks now, taking his TB treatment. It was great to see his big smile and speak some encouraging words to his family. We also went to the therapeutic feeding center, where we now have 5 patients (all referred this week. Praise God they all went for admission and most are already looking a lot better. They are a bit more active and not quite as miserable.

At about 2:30pm we left the Children’s Hospital. What to do next? Well, seeing as I am almost leaving, and the Kenyan clinical officer has only been here for a few weeks, we decided to go to the fabric street. One of our nurses thought it would be fun to go along. I figured, we’re in town, why not? So that’s just what we did; a little fun and games during the work day. It was fun walking along a street I’ve been to so many times and looking at the thousands of different fabrics available. After that it dawned on me that none of us had eaten since morning. So, what to do, go back to the office (in an hour of traffic) and forget eating, or spend a little more time in town and grab a bite to eat there. I was feeling a little guilty about staying out to play longer. But a number of the other expats often/regularly will go out for lunch on a Friday, combining it with team house shopping or another work activity, so I thought I could do the same. Why not actually sit down and have lunch during work time! So, the clinical officer, one of the nurses, the driver and I sat down in a place called ‘Delightful’ and enjoyed chicken shwarma sandwiches and cokes. After about 30 minutes we headed off again

Arriving back at work at 4:15 pm there was still more work today. And so for the next 2 hours I sat in my office replying emails, sorting out the week’s finances, writing a case report and completing some patient charts. Another eventful Friday come and gone. Time for the weekend…